Dragon Capital’s Vietnam Debt Fund SPC to exit CII

Dragon Capital’s Vietnam Debt Fund SPC (VDeF) will make a complete exit from the Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment Corp (CII), and it has registered to sell nearly 1.3 million shares it holds of the company.

If the transaction, expected to be finished on June 18, is successfully executed, the fund will give up a 0.66 per cent stake in CII. Based on the closing price of the company’s stock at VND21,200 (nearly $1) on Tuesday, the Dragon Capital unit fund will make a turnover of some $1.3 million, and a return of around $102,500, compared to January, when VDeF’s bond holding was converted into CII shares.

Dragon Capital has another fund, Amersham Industries, which is also holding more than 16.8 million shares of the infrastructure company, or 8.61 per cent. Dominic Scriven, the chief executive of the private equity firm and a board member of CII, owns 42,750 shares.

Meanwhile, the Ho Chi Minh City-based construction company’s CEO, Le Quoc Binh, has also registered to buy another tranche of three million shares. Securities investors share the view that this move is aimed to assist CII stock price that has seen a hefty decline, on the back of the foreign fund announced its divest the company.

Dragon Capital has not made any statement on this exit. CII is still a profitable business, and it had posted a profit before tax of VND490 billion in the first quarter, after recording sales of 30 million CII Bridge & Road (LGC) shares to the Philippine partner Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation. The company has set a target to achieve VND680 billion in profit in the first half of this fiscal.

CII is also working towards acquiring 45 per cent equity stake in construction firm Nam Bay Bay JSC,for the completion of its real estate business. So far, CII has gained 23.46 per cent in the targeted company.

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